The Skyline girls basketball team got their first win of the year by drubbing Stafford 58-18 in the opening round of the Thunderbird Classic Tuesday night at the Thunderdome.

The Lady T-Birds were in complete control of the game from the opening moments when Kadi Richardson scored a lay-up on the tip-off play. It never got any better for the outmanned Lady Trojans as the Skyliners outscored their opponents in every quarter to post the 40 point win.

It was a total team effort, as everyone suited up got playing time, and 9 different players scored. “Each girl did something really nice at different times tonight,” Skyline head coach Chuck Young commented. “I would have to give credit to the whole team tonight.”

The Trojans were overmatched in every way, including height. Although Stafford (perhaps on purpose) didn’t list their girls’ heights in the program, observation showed that at one point, Skyline’s shortest girl on the floor was taller than Stafford’s tallest girl. Height isn’t everything, but when it comes to basketball, it is something. Stafford played hard, but the outcome was never in doubt.

In the first quarter, Skyline spread the wealth. 7 players scored, with no one having more than 4 points. In Q2, Kaitlyn Stark potted a couple of treys, Janessa Davis hit 4 free throws and a basket, and Morgan Flowers had a couple of buckets to pace the T-Birds.

Leading 36-10 at the break, Skyline’s reserves saw even more playing time in the second half. Again in the 3rd stanza, multiple players scored for the T-Birds, with Kadi Richardson’s 4 leading the way. Taylor DeWeese made her presence known off the bench in the 4th quarter, scoring 7 points.

Coach Young was pleased with the win. “Games like this give you the opportunity to work on some things,” he said. “It can give you a false sense of security though. We’re going to have harder games than this later this week and we’re going to have to be ready for them.”

“I thought we looked the best when we were pressuring full court,” he continued. “When we took the press off (because of being so far ahead), we kind of had a tendency to let up. We need to be able to play with as much intensity in the half-court as we do in the full-court.”

On Friday night at 6:30, Skyline will face Sedgwick, who lost their first round game to Pretty Prairie 34-26.